School Swimsuit

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A staple of many anime, the School Swimsuit (also abbreviated to sukumizu, from "school mizugi [swimsuit]") is either the older skirted two-piece◊, or a newer, simple "competition" swimsuit◊ (the former most often for elementary schoolgirls, with the wearer's name on a large white label in front, and the latter for middle and high school girls); while it is not particularly exposing, it nevertheless manages to serve as fanservice, as well as nostalgia (for those lovely school swimming classes!) and moe appeal.

Often it serves as one of the first times boys in school get to see their cuter classmates in something that shows their growing figures, and this memory, coupled with awkward early puberty hormones, is what makes this swimsuit memorable to people when they talk about the first time they 'discovered girls'.

While most such School Swimsuits are dark blue, occasionally, girls are shown wearing white versions, for similar reasons to why men love wet T-shirt contests.

If a character even brings this to the Beach Episode rather than wearing a bikini, it is to show that she is more modest (or in some cases, more immature) than the rest of the cast.

Excel from the Excel Saga manga once wears a school swimsuit to a beach, and gets a lot of attention. She's long since out of high school, but never bought another swimsuit because she didn't want to waste any money. She also wears one in the anime, specifically for Fanservice purposes. Excel is shown graduating from high school at the start of the first episode. What that means in regards to her age, given the general continuity level of the series, is an exercise best left for the viewer.

Ringo from Air Gear wears one as part of her "Crescent Mask" disguise. People even call her "School Swimsuit Mask" while she's wearing that disguise, to the point where she slips up and calls herself that.

In Fruits Basket, Tohru wears once a school swimsuit — causing Shigure to have an interesting reaction, and her friends to take up a collection to buy her a new one.

Some of the girls in wear these. Understandable, given that they're in school and all. But some of the girls will wear them outside of school, while others wear something flashier (and often skimpier).

Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. When Tessa visits Japan, she gets convinced by Kurz that she should wear a School Swimsuit that makes her stand out from Jindai High's one. Then Kaname makes a mention that her swimsuit is something that "maniacs would find attractive."

And by "convinced" we mean Kurz staged a full debriefing as if it were a military operation, complete with surveillance photos of high school girls at the pool, a 3D model of a girl in said suit, and all sorts of data flashing across the screen. And Tessa watched it in surprise as almost the entire male crew listened and nodded in solemn agreement.

School swimsuits tend to only come up when swimming at school (natch), with mostly bikinis being worn to the beach at Chiyo's summer home and to Okinawa (the exceptions being Osaka and, after the first year, Chiyo, though those aren't school swimsuits, either). However, in the sports fest one year, Kagura can be seen running around in the background looking for a school swimsuit, and in the manga, when Tomo suggests making a girly uniform, Kimura already has a design for it, involving a school swimsuit, a school uniform top, a pair of bunny ears, and pantyhose.

In the manga, Yukari wears a bikini to the school pool while the swimming club is meeting there. She considers that it might be too much for the young boys to handle, but if she wore a school swimsuit, "they might like that better."

Kurosawa: I guess it's a matter of taste...

Kimura is just plain obsessed with them. He notes in front of his class that a teacher friend of his, who teaches at an all-girl school, told him that the kids there wear their PE outfits in homeroom because they have PE as their first class. "And in summer, they wear their... their swimsuits..." He bursts into tears at the thought.

In an early episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji is explaining to his friends that he is fascinated with Rei, while they're ogling the girls in their swimsuits. Shinji doesn't mean that he's fascinated with her sexually, but his friends certainly interpret it that way — asking exactly which part of her body he's so enamoured with.

The episode of Gate Keepers where the invaders try to use Shun to seduce the girls. They are all wearing bikinis but they end up wearing school swimsuits by the episode's end.

Nagi (plus a younger Maria on a flashback) from Hayate the Combat Butler wears this on the manga, the first anime AND the OVA before the second anime. And the circumstances are different on each case. In the OVA's case, it made her the only one fulfilling the narrator's promise of "Prepare to die of moe"!

Strike Witches: Yoshika, Mio and Shizuka wear this under their uniforms (well, the shirts...), probably since they come from Japan... uh, Fuso.

Saki: Yuuki and Saki wear these in the second ending and on the mandatory Beach Episode (Though Saki's might be just a similar-looking one-piece). They also happen to be the only flat-chested girls in the Five Girl Band. There's also official art of the entire Five Girl Band wearing a school swimsuit.

While she's (sadly) never seen wearing it, Nagisa from CLANNAD says she wouldn't mind wearing one of these if Tomoya wanted.

Keijo!!!!!!!!'s whole series shows this. It's a competition where girls try to push eachother into the pool using only their boobs and butts while standing on an unstable floating platform.

The main character of Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka has a big fetish for school swimsuits. At the end of the anime, Minato wears one for him.

In the 6th episode of Magikano, a ghost is placated when each girl's bikini is replaced with a sukumizu.

The Ashford Academy swimsuit in Code Geass is essentially this, but with the school's emblem over the left hip rather than the white nametag. Although it's got the feel of a competitive swimsuit in the cut of the legs and the crossed straps in the back. It's most commonly seen on Shirley, an honest-to-goodness member of the swim team, but one episode shows C.C. kicking back into school pool after hours.

Some Pool Scenes in Ranma ˝ have the Fūrinkan girls wearing school swimsuits... including Female!Ranma, who have little choice since s/he the cannot stay male in the cold water of the pool, and thus has to don a girl swimsuit. The various Beach Episodes have more diverse suits.

During the Beach Episode, Laura's superior informs her that a school-issue swimsuit is absolutely insufficent for attracting the attention of her "bride", and recommends an extremely skimpy one instead.

Nemu Kurotsuchi gets to wear one in Bleach'sBeach Episode. Funnily enough, Tite Kubo drew her wearing one in the art book beacause he decided it was the most perverted swimsuit an adult could wear.

Rinne: The series takes place in high school, so when swim season comes along there are some chapters that center around the school's swimming pool. Since these chapters tend to focus more on Sakura's experiences with the local ghosts, it's inevitable that it's the female classmates and the female teachers that spend most of the time in the swimsuits, with some changing room scenes thrown in for good measure. Seeing as it's Rumiko Takahashi of Magic Skirt fame, however, even the Fanservice shots are quite tastefully done.

Wandering Son has a chapter, and and episode in the anime adaptation, where the characters were in swimsuits. One of the characters wore one of her two-piece swimsuits instead of the school one, like all the other girls.

The twelfth episode of the anime Is This a Zombie? shows Yuu wearing the older skirted version on the group's outing to an indoor pool. She still has to wear some of her armor, though.

In episode 7 of Yumekui Merry, Yuuji is dismayed that his friend Isana has picked out one of these for otherworldly visitor Merry Nightmare, prompting this immortal line:

Yuuji: Couldn't you have found a swimsuit that shows off Merry's vagina bones a little better?

In Gakuen Babysitters, Inomata initally goes to the beach in her middle school swimsuit. Usaida jokes around by asking whether or not she has a fetish, and the female teachers insist that they go and get her something cuter. She switches to a normal swimsuit afterward.

In Girls und Panzer, during the first OVA, in which the cast goes to the beach, Mako mentions that she has a school swimsuit, and initially thinks that's good enough, but soon gets caught up in the other girls' shopping for swimsuits.

In Motto Love Love Sakusen Desu, Sodoko and the rest of the disciplinary committee wear them, and she, being a stickler for the rules, insists that the other students should wear theirs as well. She, however, is horrified to discover that her swimsuit has her nickname on it instead of her last name.

In The Disappearance Of Nagato Yukichan, Yuki is convinced to buy a swimsuit by being told that otherwise, she will not be able to compete with the other girls' flashier outfits and get Kyon's attention with her school swimsuit.

In Hitohira, the first page of Chapter 13: A Crucial Experience has Mugi in a school swimsuit for no reason related to the plot. She's holding a kickboard and blushing as she kneels alongside the starting blocks.

School Mermaid: The titular mermaids wear them for some odd reason. Though most importantly is the letter on their chests The name of the boy you want to fall in love is corresponded by said letter. And is the mermaid you need to catch and eat for the spell to be completed. If you fail to do so before sunrise, your clothes disintegrate and form into a swimsuit as part of the transformation into a mermaid.

Kotori Mizuki and her female classmates in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, being 7th graders, wear the a competition version with covered cleavage (example with Kotori◊). Like their standard uniform, it is pink and white. Not known if the upper classes have green and blue versions due to the same reason. However, because of ZEXAL being set Twenty Minutes In The Future, this example might fall victim of a minor case of Society Marches On due to the aforementioned redesign.

In the Sun & Moon season of Pokémon, Lana is shown to wear a school swimsuit under her everyday clothes. As she's a fisherman's daughter who spends a lot of time in the sea, this makes sense.

In Shinryaku! Ika Musume, Ika Musume has a white swimsuit that she wears as underclothes. Her 1/6 Pure Neemo Character doll from A-ZONE comes with the swimsuit as an alternate outfit.

The My Hero Academia anime features them in a Pool Episode, but the Fanservice aspect is largely a Subversion—upon learning that the girls got permission to use the school pool for sunbathing, Mineta and Kaminari arrange a "training session" at the same time and are annoyed that they're wearing school bathing suits instead of the tiny bikinis they had been imagining.

Fan Works

There are numerous examples of the girls of Gensokyo shown wearing such swimsuits. The most common targets are Nitori and Youmu.

Of special note is the artist/musician WINN, who has a whole series of fanart and fanvids featuring the Girls wearing school swimsuits.

Winn is almost certainly the best example of this trope (at least as far as Touhou + school swimsuits goes), considering that he even manages to work in action scenes and the occasional Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. That is... not exactly easy when your main character is dressed for fetish appeal. Seeforyourself.

Live-Action TV

Glee has a synchronized swim team, which allows the scenes with Coach Roz Washington as well as Fanservice. The usual uniform is red◊, while the suits worn in "We Found Love"◊ are of the "skirt" variety. One episode of The Glee Project also featured the red suits.

In The Goldbergs, the girls in Adam Goldberg's gym class are not at all happy with having to wear the school-regulation swimming cozzie.

Kotobukiya's Cu-poche miniature poseable action doll lineup has a optional body that is molded wearing one of these.

A-ZONE's Picco Neemo 1/12 dolls have both blue and white school swimsuits available.

Video Games

EXA_PICO has a fair amount of artwork of the Reyvateils wearing school swimsuits.

In Granblue Fantasy, Lyria wears one whenever she wants to go swimming in the summer events of the game.

One of the randomly selected pictures shown upon clearing a stage in Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice depicts a number of the female class types wearing these, which is fitting, considering the game's school setting.

Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure. Our protagonist, Parin, has one of these as her swimsuit of choice. It's also a bonus costume.

The Dead or Alive Xtreme subseries have school swimsuits in navy blue, navy blue with name tag, and white. The main series occasionally features them as well, going all the way back to the PlayStation port of the original game.

Mokoto Aihara from Rumble Roses wears one for her alternate swimwear attire. Her Heel persona comes with a much skimpier version.

Trial Captain Lana in Pokémon Sun and Moon wears one under her everyday clothes, just like she does in the anime adaptation.

Every submarine except U-511 in Kantai Collection wears one, and even she changes into one when you modernize her into RO-500.

Kana wears one in Karin's Skin Diving Diary! Karin herself can get her own from helping Kana out. This doubles as a Leotard of Power as wearing it during a dive makes used materials last longer and makes it easier to discover certain points of interest, such as underwater caves and sunken ships.

Western Animation

In The Amazing World of Gumball episode, "The Roots", Anais is probably a rare Western variant of this trope, as She wears a Dark Blue Swimsuit uniform.

Officially named the "Double Flare Skirt One-Piece", this newly released swimsuit allows young girls to cover up during swimming lessons at school. The skirt portion of the swimsuit features a double flare design and ruffled sleeves. It also has a raised, boat neck-style neckline, reducing the amount of exposed skin.

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